Endicott, NY is the birthplace of International Business Machines (IBM), a company that has changed the world for over 100 years. It also became the home of Endicott Johnson Shoe Company (EJ), the world’s largest shoe manufacturer by 1950. Since the early 1900s these two companies have dominated the history of Endicott and also greatly impacted the history of all of Broome County.
The Endicott History and Heritage Center, managed by the Old Village of Union Historical Society, houses extensive displays covering the histories of both EJ and IBM. The amazing stories of these two companies, told with displays of hundreds of artifacts, help define how such a small village in upstate central New York became the hometown for two international giants of industry.
Divided into two main sections, the entire ground floor of the museum is devoted to the history of IBM, a world leader in the early development of computer technology that got its start just up the Avenue from the museum. Upstairs there is a large exhibit covering another manufacturing giant that also got its start in the area, the Endicott-Johnson Corporation. Several other exhibits contain artifacts of local history.
The IBM museum, originally created by IBM for its employees, is now available for all to see and enjoy. The EJ material, a broad collection of never-before-seen EJ items, is the result of many donations from a number of local collectors.
